Tag: Heels

You know sometimes you just want to shoot a model because they have a distinctive style, look, or persona. Tiina was one of those people…

An ad hoc shoot was arranged at short notice and we agreed to meet in the premises of our favourite purveyor of all things nylon.

In the rush to put everything together, I forgot to pack the radio triggers to fire of my lighting system.

The net result was to shoot or not to shoot…Well luckily I always carry a couple of speed lights, better known as flash guns, in my bag. I didn’t have any triggers so had to go with the flash on top of the camera, which is 99% percent of the time an absolute ‘No-No’. However, needs must.

Tiina made hr best efforts to quickly don the Rubber and Nylon combination that I had provided and made a sterling effort to run through elements of her posing routine.

At the time she appeared to be one of the hardest working and most regularly shot models on the local scene. Now having moved to America I still follow her activities on FaceBook etc where we are friends. (Yes, for the record, I am not a stalker).

All told despite the harsh shadows, not a bad coupe of hours shoot and some interesting shots developed along the way…

When a friend who is a profoundly excellent yoga teacher asked us to do some promotional shots for her we jumped at the chance…

Starting with a nice look for a typical day out with the girls we encouraged her to find her sassy style. She has a great love for Rock music and following the local music scene so we knew she had it within her to take a simple dress to a new level.

Of course it alway helps if one is fit and flexible to strike a number of poses easily, with a natural flow and elegance.

Through our pre shoot discussion we had found that she is an aspiring author an decided to flip her look to reflect how a successful woman might dress for a cocktail reception for her newest book deal.

She is such a vivacious person and it is so easy to make her chuckle, so we had to pause frequently to regain composure.

Without a doubt, she has all the right attributes to kill it everytime, her warmth and personality shining through.

In each set she is wearing simple barely black pantyhose to complement her outfits that give a nice elegant line. We provided the cocktail dress and accessories for the evening wear shoot and the first green two piece was the models own.

We revel in helping people achieve a look that reflects their personality and makes their image ‘pop’. Its so important these days in the realms of intense social media to have a look for the moment or a look for an emotion to keep your offerings fresh and engaging. Drop us a line if you would like to work with us on your own image and branding.

We are not quite sure how to label this post, but whatever the title the shoot made for an intriguing style…The tiddly hat worn atop the models head is often referred to as a ‘Fascinator’…

The model had the basic Bodice and lace dress to which we added the finishing touches. Of course ladies would not have worn nylon in those days, but the model had some delightful ink to display on her legs that we wanted to show through, so transparent shiny pantyhose were the order of the day.

Also we showcased one of our favourite props here. An original Jean Paul Gaultier Rubber Umbrella with ornate handle, which is currently on sale on eBay.

We also employed a combination of studio lamps punching light into the scene and natural light as seen in the shot above, whilst partaking of afternoon tea.

We had many bluebells growing in our garden and so found it appropriate to make up a little seasonal bouquet to complement her intricate make up.

We would like to point out that it is illegal in the UK to pick bluebells in the wild…so do take heed as there is a hefty fine if you are caught doing this.

Next accoutrement was a fine ebony and alpaca silver Gentleman’s walking cane. It is worth noting that whilst an expensive item, alpaca silver forming the handle at the top of the cane does not in fact contain any real silver. It is an alloy of copper, zinc and nickel that mimics silver.

Finally, our old shed, that we kept our lawn mower and other garden equipment in, fell down as the roundels of wood supporting its corners had rotted through. The Tin Roof provided to final piece of the puzzle for a different urban backdrop…

Whilst we can extol the virtues of having now invested in more than £2,000 worth of professional lighting, we would like to say that is was not always like this…

Our early foray into shooting Pin Up and Burlesque styles had us utilise a set of double Builders lights, on a tripod, from a Hardware outlet that cost us around £25.

The Lights ran very hot and so gave little scope for modification or control. We did, however, manage to rig a sort of diffuser in front of them to avoid really harsh shadows.

Needless to say this was one of the few shoots we have done where the model, clearly used to more professional set ups, was clearly not impressed. Despite her initial ice cool reception she did dig deep to work and produce some fine poses.

The video below does much more justice to the shoot and just shows how with a little ingenuity one can ‘beef up’ the whole output to represent something cool and worthwhile.

You may or may not remember the old style ladies lingerie shops that used to display oodles of foundation wear and girdles and more often than not had upturned mannequin legs in the window adorned with the finest seamed stockings…

Well if you didn’t here is an example. Our fabulous model, got right into the theme of the shoot and when asked to show her appreciation for the inanimate stockinged leg showed her appreciation with her tongue. Cheeky Girl!

But after all, isn’t that the essence of old style Pin Up shoots? A sassy style and cheekiness go hand in hand with that era where sexuality exuded an innocent naivety sadly lacking in our more overt modern times.

Mistress PussyKat, understands the genre of Burlesque very well and knows that the whole point is to use her full repertoire of skills to tease the weaker sex into a state of complete acquiescence to the power of the feminine form. Whether it be an adjustment of her stocking tops, or a twirling of her pastie tassels, each delicate movement adds to the next in achieving the desired goal.

This, ‘you can look, but you dare not touch! style can be seen at many of the Burlesque revival shows that have become popular in underground subculture of late, and has even broken into the mainstream with the relentless promotion by top stars like Dita von Tease.

The other point of this style is a celebration of real women. Yes that’s right, women with a bit of meat of them, women unabashed and unafraid to share their buxom and very beautiful nature with you. Almost, the antithesis of what the global advertising industry pumps at us all daily of stick thin, anorexic almost ‘junkie style’ deities, known as models, who survive on a lettuce leaf for sustenance.

Yes its a Renaissance for all women (well with the exception of carpet munchin’ feminists perhaps!!!) And yes this article does not lie within the boundaries of ‘so called’ modern political correctness, but that after all is a concept designed to strip you of your sense of self and individuality. We welcome those of you who do appreciate the finer nuances of life’s rich pattern and take this text with the tongue in cheek style it is intended.

As if you hadn’t seen enough nylons in this portal, here we are bringing you yet more. A little fuzzy just the the golden days of VHS, this clip was found out there in hyperspace begging to be shared.

I all honesty we never tire of seeing Fully fashioned Nylons, as they are such a rarity nowadays. Unless your Wife or Girlfriend wears them as a treat for you, and reveals in the gawping attention of other admirers…

Mistress SlipHorne can sense this from a thousand paces, and invites all worms to kneel at the end of her crop.

Yes that’s exactly where she wants you. Prostate in front of her, eyes down awaiting your next instruction.

Yes,…the strike of the lash can be painful, but the you will have to make sure you do not deserve it. There would be nothing worse than pulling down your trousers and pants, in front of an audience, to be admonished now would there?

Next comes the collar! A brutish collar for a wimp who know its place.

A Collar you can wear with pride, as we move on to the next phase of your training. Tie and Tease with a Feathered Implement would seem most appropriate to test your mettle.

We have worked with many Mistresses over the years to develop promo shoots that give an authentic insight into the tamer side of bdsm. If you are a Mistress who would like to partake of this service then do contact us now. Alternatively, you may be a couple who would like to dip your toes into this arena, or a female who has just started to sense her need for something more and thinks bdsm might be just like the Advanced driving Test for all things sexual and sensual. Either way, we have the props and facilities to realise your dreams and capture something cool and interesting.

So a young lady approached us to assist her with entering a competition in the USA. The first phase involved shooting her front side and back in fashion and bikini styles to gain entry.

Off the back of this we decided to also shoot a little Burlesque/Lingerie set to add another dimension to her fledgling portfolio.

She provided the shoes and basque, we put together the rest of the package, and as you can see the shots turned out nicely.

We must admit, we prefer the floppy wide brimmed hat to the traditional Bowler on her, but that is part of the flow…Sometimes you have to try different things to get the look that really works.

Also we are talking today about filters and post processing. But it is also worth mentioning white balance. It is important to firstly set the white balance on the camera to match the sale of light you are using. So in this case we would select flash as we were working in the studio.

Even on that setting you can see that all the pictures above came out of the Canon camera, we were using at the time, a little on the warm side, which translates as a little towards the yellow side of the lighting spectrum. This tinge can be taken out by moving the white balance slider in Lightroom towards the blue end of the spectrum.

Some people get the model to hold up a colour balance card at the start of a shoot that has a neutral set of greys on it. This can then be chosen with the colour picker in the white balance adjuster to set the overall tone for the picture. The setting then saved and stamped on all the proceeding images to get a unified colour scheme. We hasten to add that this all only works if you shoot in manual mode. If you shoot in automatic, the colour balance etc will vary from shot to shot an make it a nightmare to colour balance the whole sequence.

Below we show an alternative style called cross processing that allies an algorithm to the shadows and highlights to achieve a totally different effect.

The skin tone looks more natural, the blacks a little sharper and the edges/highlights have a slight bluish tinge to them.

Experimentation is the key and learning to use your kit to get maximum results. We also hope you like the fiddly stockings she wore which were reversed to the normal sense, with seams and fancy lacing don the front for a different look.

Well if you are in Eastbourne and the Sun is out it would be rude not to pop down to our favourite purveyor of finest gelato, ‘Fusciardi’s’.

And order something as delightful as a ‘KnickerBocker Glory’, a tasty and refreshing treat that simply has to be quaffed down and shared.

It provided a refreshing break between takes on our photo shoot at the seaside, and also goes on to prove that you can have some indulgence in your life and still maintain a good figure. Just make sure you savour and enjoy every mouthful!

And this was one of our first attempts at going full tilt with the style.

It is worth noting that whilst we had a reasonable Canon consumer camera at the time…

We were actually shooting with a set of Builders Lights purchased from a hardware store.

Hence the odd assortment of shadows that have manifest on the images.

Its funny when you look back at old work. One has a sense of knowing and wishing that we could travel back in time and re do the shoot again with all our current kit, knowledge and experience. Alas, models come and go and this retro beauty, as far as we know, retired from shooting not long after working with us on this set. Its a sad loss as you can see she was good at striking pose or two…

We hope by showing our flaws and development that this encourages you to have a go at chasing your dreams. Everybody has a starting point and after eight years we are still learning something new every day. So get out there, find a good model, have fun and shoot something cool that pushes your boundaries to become a better creative.